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Welcome! Artfully Musing is a blog dedicated to sharing art and the techniques and products used. I'll be showcasing collage, altered and mixed media art as well as miniature. I hope you'll check back often and are inspired. Thanks for visiting! Laura

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Making an Hourglass Using Bottles – Tutorial

I had such great feedback on my “Witching Hour” hourglass
(pictured below) a few months ago that I thought I would create a couple more hourglasses
for you and include a tutorial.

Creating an hourglass out of two bottles is a unique project
and so simple. There are many
possibilities for a project like this.
Just about any holiday or theme can apply. Another option is to create one to celebrate
a special occasion like a birth, anniversary or wedding. Or maybe just as a piece of art.

For this tutorial I have created two New Year’s hourglass examples using two
different sizes of bottles.

I chose these slope
shoulder bottles for the project as when combined they have an hourglass
shape. The bottles come in two sizes.

The bottles I used for the first hourglass are 2 5/16” tall x 1 ¼”
diameter and are the smaller of the two sizes.

I like adding some decor to the bottles to jazz them up. The trick is not to add too much or you won’t
see the sand or other mixture falling through the bottles. Stickers work really well for a project like
this.

Instead of using sand I created a mixture of Diamond Dust and gold
glitter. You can use whatever you like
(sand, glitter, microbeads, etc.) just as long as the individual grains or
beads are small enough to pass easily between the openings of the two bottles.

Instead of using sand I created a mixture of Diamond Dust and gold
glitter.You can use whatever you like
(sand, glitter, microbeads, etc.) just as long as the individual grains or
beads are small enough to pass easily between the openings of the two bottles.

I added the mixture to one of the bottles. Some of the glitter sticks to the sides of
the bottle giving the glass extra sparkle.

To slow down the flow of the mixture between bottles, I glued a small Chinese
coin to the top of the empty bottle.
It is the exact size to fit on the inside rim of the bottle. You can use any flat object with a hole just
as long as hole it is bigger than the inside rim (so it doesn't fall into the
bottle). It can also be larger than the outside rim of the bottle.

I used E6000 glue to attach the coin.
Allow it to completely dry. Then use the glue to attach one bottle to the
other. Next, I glued the two bottles
together using E6000 glue and allow it to dry.

You all know by now that I like to add lots of embellishments to my
project. With an hourglass, the surface
for embellishment is very limited. I
solved the problem by adding elements that give me more surface area. These leaf
flourishes worked perfectly. They
were originally silver. I used Flamingo
Liquid Pearls and Goldenrod
Stickles to add coordinating color and sparkle.

I glued the flourishes to each side of the bottles using
E6000 glue. Since the contact areas
between the flourishes and the bottle are really small, you need to use strong
glue, giving it adequate time to dry before proceeding. You can see in the picture that I supported
the flourish using a stack of chipboard.
I also added some weight on top of the flourish to keep it
straight. I placed a bottle on the other
side of the hourglass to keep it from rolling.
I let it dry 24hrs before attaching the flourish to the other side. My climate is very dry so you may need more
time if you live in a wet climate.

Once the flourishes were firmly in place I started adding
other embellishments. The mask is brass
and I jazzed it up with black and pink glitter.
The clock is a button that is glued to a piece of gold filigree. I added a piece of filigree to the seam
between the bottles.

The last step was to add the feet.You want to add them last as you don’t want
extra pressure on the feet while you are adding other elements.

The feet are made to attach to a corner. I used needle nose pliers to bend the feet to
fit around the curve of the bottle. The feet
don’t have to fit perfectly flush; just enough to create contact points for the
glue. Again I used E6000 glue and
allowed the feet plenty of time to dry.
Make sure that all your feet are on the same level so that your
hourglass stands up straight. Because of
the size of the bottle and the size of the feet, I used three feet on each
side, spaced equal distance apart.

I painted the feet with Flamingo Liquid Pearls and Silver Alcohol
Mixative. As a final touch I added clear
rhinestones.

THE SECOND HOURGLASS
(Black & Silver)

This second hourglass is much larger than the first. For this one I used the larger 3” 11/16” tall
by 2” diameter slope-shoulder
glass bottles. The finished height
of the hourglass is 10”.

The construction of the hourglass is exactly the same as
the first bottle. For this bottle I used
a mixture of silver and black microbeads inside the bottles. Since the opening of these bottles is larger
than the first bottles, I used a small washer to limit the flow of the
microbead mixture between the bottles.
Instead of feet I used two wood egg
cups as stands.

I wrapped the star
tinsel and falling
star wired sprays around the necks of the bottles. The wired sprays gave me a place to attach
the images. I used Glossy Accents to
coat the top hats with black glitter.
The masks are brass that I first painted silver with Silver Alcohol
Mixative Ink and then added black glitter and white feathers.

I painted the backs of acrylic chandelier crystals with Silver
Alcohol Mixative Ink and added stickers to the front.I glued them together in sets of three using
E6000 glue before attaching them to the bottles.

OH OH OH!!!! I have so patiently (Shhhhh I'm lying don't tell anyone LOL) for you to do this Tutorial!!! All three Hourglasses are absolutely beautiful!! I definitely love the Black and Silver one the best!! This is definitely something I will be making.

You are a talented ARTIST! I have always had the love for altering and making my own with recycle, reuse and upcycling things and objects most people toss . This is a GREAT idea and has inspired me to make my own.. Thank you!